Urgent Information about Apps, Cybersafety Resources and a Digital Literacy Survey for Parents
Dear Parents,
Last week, School Principals from our area received up-to-date information on cybersafety at a special meeting held by North Sydney Police. An educator from The Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner, who presented at the meeting, recommended the following information be passed on to parents.
Apps of concern
There are some popular apps causing concern. Within these apps, unless the settings are changed, anyone can have direct contact with your child via live chat. These apps have an age limit of 13+. Dangers such as the potential for online grooming are of concern to Police.
The most popular of these apps are:
Instagram, 
musical.ly and 
Roblox
The eSafety Commissioner’s Website provides an alphabetical listing of apps, with direct links to change privacy settings.. The links also provide safety guides for parents.
Live Video Streaming Apps of Concern
There are a new wave of video streaming apps which provide live streaming from smart phones, tablets and computers. Some of the apps allow the user to stream live video of themselves or others. These apps can geo-tag the user’s location, causing concerns that a child address could be identified by another person if they were to stream live.
The most popular of these apps are:
Facebook, 
live.ly and 
Periscope.
The eSafety Commissioner’s Website provides an alphabetical listing of apps, with direct links to change privacy settings.. The links also provide safety guides for parents.
Be aware: the posting of abusive material (videos. photographs and comments) is on the increase nationally.
Incidents of cyberbullying and Image-based abuse are increasing. While it is more prevalent Australia wide in secondary schools, the eSafety Commissioner has reported an increase in complaints received nationally across primary schools.
Reporting of incidents
If you or your child need to report an incident, the eSafety Commissioner has outlined places to go here.
1. Police
As always for all matters requiring urgent attention call 000.
As always for all matters requiring urgent attention call 000.
2. Contact the website directly to remove the content
The eSafety Commissioner has informed us they have set up partnerships with many of the major companies. They have consultants who can respond quickly to incidents and work to ensure that the photograph, video or offensive comment Is removed quickly. This starts the process of removal as soon as possible.
The eSafety Commissioner has informed us they have set up partnerships with many of the major companies. They have consultants who can respond quickly to incidents and work to ensure that the photograph, video or offensive comment Is removed quickly. This starts the process of removal as soon as possible.
THEN contact
They have a 24-hour counselling service and the steps to lodge an online report. Here is the online form.
Settings in Apps
The eSafety Commissioner’s Website provides an alphabetical listing of apps, with direct links to change privacy settings.. The links also provide safety guides for parents.
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Further Resources to assist parents
For further details and resources the eSafety Commissioner’s website has valuable resources to assist families. iParent is a valuable website to bookmark. It is well resourced with videos and games on eSafety for children to view.